Anti-toll gate protest: Prohibitory orders in Surathkal

 

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been clamped within a radius of 200 metres around the toll plaza at Surathkal in the city where the anti-toll gate protesters have announced an indefinite day-and-night protest from Friday.

City police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said the order will be effective from 6 AM on October 28 till 6 PM on November 3 in view of the protests planned by the action committee demanding closure of the toll gate.

Meanwhile, Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Dr Kumara urged the anti-toll gate action committee to put off their agitation till the government officially issues a gazette notification to scrap the toll gate as promised.

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) project director Linge Gowda also requested the protesters to wait for the government’s decision. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has directed the authorities to remove the Surathkal toll gate and a gazette notification is pending, he said. However, toll gate action committee leader Muneer Katipalla said the agitation will continue till the toll collection from the plaza is stopped.

”We have received several such assurances from the authorities in the past which were not implemented,” he said. People have been protesting against the ‘illegal’ toll collection from the plaza which is just 10 km away from the nearest toll gate at Hejamady, violating Highway rules which stipulate that no two toll plazas should function within a distance of 60-km.